He Everyday knowledge , Also called"knowledge or general culture,"is a term used to refer to facts known to most people, which have been proven true and can not be rebutted.
Information that is part of everyday knowledge is so common that it should not be cited when it is used in work and other research, since all individuals in a society (or most of them) handle such knowledge.
For example:
1-The sun rises in the east.
2-Barack Obama was the president of the United States.
3-England is in Europe.
4-Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina.
In addition, everyday knowledge is characterized by not belonging to any specific area but is part of general fields of knowledge (this is why it is called general culture.
There are several ways to identify whether certain information is everyday knowledge or not, for example: information is present in more than five sources without being cited, constitutes a proverb or a saying, is a verifiable fact, is accepted as"valid"because it is Known by all and does not need additional support.
Daily knowledge and other types of knowledge
There are four types of knowledge: the mythical, the philosophical, the everyday and the scientific. The mythical knowledge can be magical or religious, the philosophical can be rational or critical.
On the other hand, the scientific knowledge differs from the daily one in which the first one is critical and reflective whereas the second one is spontaneous and unthinking; The former is determined through studies while the latter is socially demonstrated.
In addition to this, scientific knowledge is specialized, which makes it a knowledge restricted to only one group.
Unlike scientific knowledge, everyday knowledge is general domain, it is common for all individuals regardless of the area of specialty.
How to recognize if certain information is everyday knowledge or not?
At times, people may face difficulties in determining whether or not information is part of everyday knowledge. However, there are certain methods to determine it. Some of them are:
1-Information can be found in five or more sources without citing
If an investigation is being carried out on the discovery of America and five or more texts establish that this continent was discovered by Christopher Columbus, then we can say that this fact is part of everyday knowledge and need not be quoted.
2-Information can be found in any general source
Take as an example the following: Jimmy Carter was the 39th president of the United States.
Many people may know that Jimmy Carter was, in effect, one of the presidents of the United States. However, the number of people who know that Carter was the 39th president of the United States is very small.
In spite of this, the statement is an example of everyday knowledge because the information on the number of presidency that Carter occupied can be found in any reference book.
3-Information is a proverb or a saying
If the information used is a proverb or a saying, then it is a fact of everyday knowledge. For example: Not much early rises dawn earlier.
4-It is known that the recipient knows the information that is being offered
If you are writing an article about music intended for musicians, it is not necessary to explain what is a composition, what is a scale or any other musical term, since it is known that the recipients handle the vocabulary.
5-If it is a historical date, a place or a fact, then it is a fact of common knowledge.
Examples of everyday knowledge
- The capital of Germany is Berlin. The flag of this country is composed of three horizontal stripes black, red and yellow (in descending order). Knowing the names of capital cities and the colors of the countries' flags is part of everyday knowledge.
- Practice without theory is blind and theory without practice is sterile. This phrase was said by the philosopher Immanuel Kant in 1793. However, it is used so much that it has become a proverb so it is not necessary to quote it (although it is not penalized to add a reference) and is part of everyday knowledge.
- The Earth revolves around the Sun and the Moon Revolves around the Earth. The simple fact of observing the sky certifies to us that these two statements are correct; In addition to this, several scientific studies have been carried out confirming these facts. It should be noted that it was not always common knowledge to say that the Earth orbits the Sun. At one time, the geocentric theory prevailed, according to which the Sun and the other planets revolved around the Earth. Subsequently, it was discovered that this theory was erroneous and was replaced by heliocentric (the Sun is the center).
- If you mix the yellow and red pigments, you get an orange pigment. If you mix blue and red, you get purple. It is not necessary to be an artist to know what colors will be obtained if the three primary colors are mixed together. Therefore, such information is part of common knowledge.
- The water boils at 100 ° C and freezes at 0 ° C.
- The water cycle consists of three parts: precipitation, evaporation and condensation. These three elements are repeated over and over again in a natural way.
- The earth is round. It should be noted that, just as with the heliocentric theory, the fact that the Earth is round was not always part of everyday knowledge, since at one time it was wrongly believed that our planet was flat.
- It is dangerous to mix ammonia with chlorine. Perhaps not everyone is aware that the mixture between these two substances triggers a reaction that generates toxic gases (such as chloramines) but everyone does know that it is not advisable to mix chlorine with ammonia.
References
- What is Common Knowledge? Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from integrity.mit.edu
- Common Knowledge. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from en.wikipedia.org
- Common Knowledge. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from merriam-webster.com
- What is common knowledge. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from businessdictionary.com
- Common knowledge. Retrieved July 3, 2017, from dictionary.com
- Every knowledge. Retrieved on July 3, 2017, from nbci.nlm.nih.gov
- General knowledge. Retrieved July 3, 2017, from dictionary.cambridge.org.